Elation as John Merricks II crosses Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race finish 

British Keelboat Academy celebrate as the complete the race

John Merricks II put paid to their gruelling 1800nm Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race challenge during the early hours of this morning, (01, September) with the elated British Keelboat Academy crew crossing the finish line off The Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes at 01:49.23. Completing the famous race in an impressive time of 8 days, 11 hours and 49 min the TP52 finished second in the IRC Super Zero Class and look to be in line for fourth place overall depending on how quickly the remaining 14 boats finish.  

The 11 BKA sailors on board would have been satisfied simply finishing the race but with the prospect of a top five finish in sight and having lead the race for the majority of the east coast leg up to Muckle Flugga, they have cause for big celebration. Once they have caught up on their sleep and had a wash that is.    

“I think today we’re going to be sleeping first and foremost and then we are going to go to the pub together for a drink to celebrate properly once it’s all settled in a bit more,” trimmer Sally Olsen said.  

Conditions were tough troughout the race with winds ranging from 35 knots up the North Sea to nothing at all off Lands End testing the young sailor’s skills and nerve to max.  

Grinder Hamish Macdonald explained: “I don’t think any of us have done a race this long before. The biggest thing was just getting up every two or three hours day-in-day-out and then doing some pretty strenuous manoeuvres in winds gusting up to gale force levels. These boats are a handful, the biggest kite is about 250m2  so the amount of force you’ve got to generate to work against it is pretty massive.”  

“By the end everyone’s got a little niggle, tweaked a muscle or two, everyone’s absolutely shattered but the fact that we’re quite a young crew and everyone’s been working hard in the gym has paid off and we’re not quite a broken as we could have been.”  

Getting John Merricks II to the start line was a challenge in itself, arguably more than that of the actual race. Since November, the Academy’s National Squad sailors have been working tirelessly to raise enough funds and spend enough time in the boat yard bringing the TP52 up to a high enough standard to do the race. This has meant a lot of work strengthening parts of the hull and operating systems to ensure she could withstand the constant pounding of the notorious race.          

Sally Olsen said: “Everybody is really pleased and relived to have finished with the boat in one piece! From what we’ve seen there’s not been any big breakages and I think we’ve been really reassured by how strong the boat is in comparison to what we were expecting.”  

“The crew have sailed the boat really well and everybody managed to handle anything that did crop up and managed to avert anything that did go wrong. Before the race we had been laminating bits, putting in supports under the pedestals to stop the deck from flexing, filing in bits of epoxy where there wasn’t enough, reinforcing structural bits in the boat, putting in new pad eyes for the spinnaker sheets to come off and making sure everything was reinforced and strong enough for the race – the amount of work that has gone into it has been huge.”  

Business consultants LECG were a huge help to the academy pledging their support stepping in to help fund John Merricks II’s campaign right at the last minute.  

Managing Director Chris Tattersall sent this message of congratulations to the crew: “As sponsors of John Merricks II we are very proud of the crew's performance in the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland race and would like to congratulate everyone involved. We very much look forward to continuing our relationship with the boat, its crew and the Academy."  

Helm Chris Noble added: “LECG stepped up and really helped us with the cash we needed to get to the start line right at the last minute so we are eternally grateful for that. I should also say a massive thank you to all the people who have helped us, Smart Group, ICAP Leopard - Mike Slade and his team, all our friends and family, the RYA,UKSA and everyone else.”     

Skipper and British Keelboat Academy Head Coach Luke McCarthy commented: “The race is a really gruelling event, and for a bunch of young sailors to it in a boat that wasn’t originally designed for these kind of conditions is a really massive achievement.”  

“The sailors impressed me massively in how they coped with the race, I think a big part of that was the preparation we did practicing manoeuvres and swapping crew positions and also the fact the sailors did all the work on the boat themselves so when things went wrong they knew it all inside out - that was a big benefit.”    

“The sailors were rightly overjoyed as we went over the finish line, a big cry went up when we got our finish time over the radio and heard officially we had finished the race.”  

To track John Merricks II’s race route and follow the remaining boats progress visit http://sevenstar.rorc.org/2010-fleet-tracking.html .  

For more information about the Academy visit www.britishkeelboatacademy.org .

You can also follow the BKA on Facebook and Twitter @tweetbka .

BKA’s partners include B&G, Wild Graphics, Hamble Yacht Services, Harken, Henri Lloyd, North Sails, Ocean Safety, Premium Liferafts, TT Rigging, Marlow, Medical Support Offshore and RORC.  

John Merricks II crew for the 2010 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race:

Skipper– Luke McCarthy 

Helm/trimmer – Chris Noble

Helm/trimmer – Jo Coad 

Helm/trimmer – Phil Johnston 

Helm/trimmer – Nick Cherry

Bow/trimmer – Phil Miller

Pit/trimmer –Peter Knight

Bow – Chris Dorey

Navigator – Aaron Cooper 

Pit/trimmer – Becky Scott

Pit/trimmer – Sally Olsen

Mast/grind/trim – Hamish Macdonald 

Trim – Steve Aiken

Trim - Sam Matson